Authority and Leadership by Claudette Portelli
 

Leaders are actors who have the power to persuade others in order to lead them towards a defined objective.

Today, when we talk about authority, we are talking about people capable of imposing themselves and imposing their point of view. Now, it is not at all about that; Gandhi, for example, had incredible authority without ever seeking to impose his authority.

The "minute manager" says that the key to success is influence and not the mere fact of authority.

When we think about our approach in which we talk about attempts at solutions, we focus on the way of being of the leader, on the way he has to get there. And for that, he must above all be someone who is flexible.

At the CTS in Arezzo, we have deciphered authority patterns and cut them into 6 types. Their common characteristic is that they are all rigid profiles:

A leader should not be rigid but should seek to be rigorous. He must free himself from chains, be flexible and adaptable to the situations he encounters.

He must be able to ride the waves when he encounters them, have a researcher's attitude in the way he acts. As Darwin said, the species that survive are those that are adaptable to change.

So effective leaders are those who know how to solve problems and how to communicate them.

Rigor but not rigidity; leaders must be able to think outside the box; they are problem solvers. And they must maintain a lasting vision, be able to define it and transmit it. They must be able to look at a situation from different points of view and, depending on the resources, prepare an action.

The technique applied in Arezzo is that of the mountaineer; the principle is that when the goal is high, you have to start from above by working in stages. When a leader has the capacity to plan rigorously, he must not impose but persuade. "I will involve them so that they want to do something."

The base

- listen to verbal and non-verbal language

- ask

- see and offer alternatives

- identify and manage resistance to change

- feel the need to change

- build small agreements

- take one up or down positions using a communication technique that gains influence.

 

We must not do violence to nature but persuade her; a leader must know how to magnify. To be rigorous of course, but adaptable according to the situations and their evolution.